Day 77 – Calling, Ministry and Assignments

I cannot believe it, but my internship is almost over. I only have 3 more days left after today. Craziness! Dale has decided to take the last three days of class to talk about our calling, how God views work and how we can stand strong when we go home. Today, we discussed calling, ministry and assignments.

Calling:

Hear, O Israel! The Lord is our God, the Lord is one! You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. These words, which I am commanding you today, shall be on your heart. Deuteronomy 6:4-6

And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength. Mark 12:30

Dale presented the idea that this is our primary calling: to love God wholeheartedly. This really resonates with me. As much as I enjoy counseling, it doesn't satisfy me the way that intimacy with God does. My time here at IHOP-KC has deepened my certainty that I was made to love God and to be loved by God. When I sit in this room, I sing to God, I talk to Him and tell Him what I'm thinking and how I'm feeling, I study the Bible and ask God questions, and I ask Him to move in my life with provision, to bring healing, to share with me what He is thinking and feeling and to move in the lives and hearts of those that I love. My life is very simple and I am confident that this has been one of the richest seasons of my entire life. I am not literally rich, but I feel rich in my heart. God's love toward me is everlasting. It is driving out every single one of my fears. His peace passes my understanding and guards my heart and mind. Jesus is making His joy full in me. God is teaching me how to rest in Him and He is showing me that He restores my soul.

So, yes, I want to accept this life calling. This is nothing else that I would rather do FOREVER than to love my God with all of my time, all of my money, and all of myself.

Ministry: This is the context or physical place in which I live out my calling.

For me, at least in this next season of life, my ministry is in building the Rock River House of Prayer and counseling at The Glenwood Center. I am already wondering if I can block my clients in the afternoons and evenings to try and do an early night watch shift at our HOP. I have grown to love ministering before God in the night and would like to help develop more of a night watch in Rockford. I continue to ask God to equip me to do private practice counseling and to bring me the clients that He wants me to work with. Truly, the lines have fallen for me in pleasant places. I am very excited about this next season of my life and all of the ministry that God has for me in Rockford, IL!

Assignments: The specific individual tasks, jobs God gives you to do that are simple acts of love and obedience.

I continue to ask God for an anointing to partner with Him in His ministry of restoring hearts and for opportunities to minister to orphans. I hope that He will provide assignments for me to work with orphans in a greater way. I also think that He wants me to continue to partner with Exodus Cry in praying for the ending of Human Trafficking on a weekly basis. So, these are some of my assignments.